Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Statin Prescription Status in Korean Adult Patients

ABSTRACT

Background@#Cardiovascular (CV) disease is known as one of the major causes of death from disease worldwide. Statin therapy plays a pivotal role in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) lowering the LDL-cholesterol level effectively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of the intensity of statin therapy in adult patients of Korea and the risk of ASCVD of the patient group. @*Methods@#We used data from sample of patients from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA-NPS-2018). We analyzed the patterns of prescribing statins including types of statin, statin intensity, and number of patients with ASCVD or risk of ASCVD. @*Results@#155,512 patients were included in the analysis, and 27,950 patients (18.0%) was over 75 years. Highintensity statin usage was increased in ASCVD patients compared with the low-intensity statin use. The OR (odds ratio) of highintensity statin were increased in myocardial infarction patients compared with low-intensity statin use showing the highest OR; 12.40 (95% CI; 9.48-16.22). At patient groups of angina, ischemic heart disease and carotid disease, high-intensity statin prescription rate was increased compared with low-intensity statin. However, there was no statistical significance between both statin prescription rates in patients of peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aneurysm, diabetic mellitus and atherosclerosis. @*Conclusion@#The statin prescription rate showed intensity increasing tendency according to the risk of ASCVD. More aggressive statin therapy might be beneficial for the ASCVD patients based on the recent guidelines of dyslipidemia.